Food for Thought: Koreafornian Cooking

Koreafornian Cooking is the website of Tammy Quackenbush, a food writer and promoter based in San Francisco. It’s loaded with articles about the fusion of Korean and California culture through California kimchi makers, snack-of-the-month programs for hungry Korean expats and reviews of and articles on restaurants, products and trends.

However, for our purposes the most exciting part of the site is the “Secret Recipe Club” where, as she puts it, “I have this obsession of taking every non-Korean recipe and trying to put a Korean spin on it. When I have a ‘eureka’ moment, the result is published here.” Take a look at Raspberry Ssamjang which is essentially the Melba sauce served in upstate New York taverns modded with Korean spice… who wouldn’t like to dip a fried mozz stick in this stuff? There are also non-secret recipes that work in reverse, hacking Korean dishes with American ingredients. Tuna Kimchi Jjigae is a good example: the comfort-food Korean stew is made with a can of albacore from the supermarket, for an alternative to tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. Check it out.